Surfers catch winter waves on West Grand Traverse Bay
Posted: 12.13.2010 at 12:01 PM
Updated: 12.15.2010 at 7:00 AM
Photo

TRAVERSE CITY -- UPDATE: This video continues to be one of the top hits on our website and has been aired at television stations across the country! 

While drivers were heeding caution on the slippery roads across Northern Michigan, Micah Appel and Ryan Keenan spent the day riding the waves of West Grand Traverse Bay!

The surfers say the ocean is better but they will take what they can get when the waves kick up in Traverse City.  Both men say they are dressed right for the winter sport and have been doing this type of surfing for years.

"You just gotta do it and then you realize, I don't know, it's fun," explained Keenan. "On a day like today everybody is inside on the couch watching t.v. and we kind of take advantage of this weather, have a blast, and do something we love to do."

"It's just the feeling you get when you drop in on a wave, it's kind of hard to describe," added Appel.

The pair certainly turned a lot of heads Monday and I'm sure got a lot of comments from passerbys.

7 & 4 Storm Team Meteorologist Joe Charlevoix says the temperature was 13 degrees with a wind chill of - 5 when the men were on the bay.  The water temperature was around 40 degrees.  Winds were out of the north around 23 miles per hour with gusts to near 30 miles per hour at times.